British XXX Corps

XXX Corps was a corps of the British Army that was active from August 1941 to September 1946. The corps was formed for British armored units during Operation Crusader in North Africa, and it took heavy casualties during the operation. The corps' strength was depleted in 1942 as German general Erwin Rommel forced it back to El Alamein, and Oliver Leese took command of the corps in September 1942. The next month, the corps fought at the Second Battle of El Alamein, suffering very heavy losses, but breaking through German lines and taking part in Operation Supercharge shortly after. After successfully completing the North African campaign in May 1943, the corps took part in Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily. The corps landed near Pachino and pushed back the Italian 206th Coastal Division and the 54th Infantry Division Napoli, and the corps faced heavy resistance from the well-equipped German and Italian forces (such as Group Schmalz) in the mountains. After the Axis withdrawal from Sicily in August 1943, the XXX Corps was sent to England to refit for Operation Overlord, the invasion of France. Gerard Bucknall commanded XXX Corps on D-Day, landing at Gold Beach and pushing the Germans back. The corps fought hard at the Battle of Caen, and Bernard Montgomery deceided to replace Bucknall with Brian Horrocks in July 1944, improving the corps' performance. The corps quickly liberated Brussels and Antwerp in Belgium, and the corps secured the Maas-Schelde canal into the Netherlands, halting its advance due to a lack of fuel. The 50,000-strong XXX Corps was later sent to take part in Operation Market Garden, and the corps was delayed several times due to traffic congestion. During the Battle of the Bulge, the XXX Corps secured bridges over the Meuse, and it pushed the 2nd Panzer Division out of Celles on 27 December 1944 before capturing Rochefort on New Year's Eve. The corps was heavily involved in the fighting along the Rhine River in early 1945, and it advanced through the Reichswald Forest during Operation Veritable in February 1945. The corps met the US Ninth Army at Geldern on 3 March 1945, and it pushed on to Cleves, which was heavily bombed, a decision later regretted by Horrocks. On 26 April 1945, XXX Corps captured Bremen, and it exposed the Sandbostel concentration camp's Stalag X-B. The corps ended the war in the coastal town of Cuxhaven in Lower Saxony, and it was disbanded in September 1946.